The history of gold production can be quite clearly divided into two eras; before and after the California gold rush of 1848. Some calculations suggest that, until then, scarcely 10,000 tonnes of gold had been excavated since the beginning of time. Thus more than 90% of the world's gold has been produced since 1848.

So the crucial turning point in the history of the gold mining industry came with the discovery at Sutter's Mill on the American River in January 1848, which ushered in a new age of gold. World production at this time stood at about 280 tonnes, but was dramatically boosted again in 1886 with the discovery of the huge gold reefs in the Witwatesrand Basin of South Africa. Gold had first been found in eastern Transvaal in 1873, but it was obvious from the beginning that Witwatersrand deposits were of a completely different order. South Africa ousted the United States as the world's premier producer in 1898, a position it has held almost continuously ever since.

From 1884, the first year of recorded output, South Africa has been the source of close to 40% of all the gold ever produced. The most productive year was 1970 when over 1,000 tonnes were mined, representing more than three-quarters of the western world’s output. While the South African gold mining industry was taking off, two further gold rushes occurred. In 1893 gold was found at Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, since when over 1,300 tonnes have been extracted form Kalgoorlie's ‘Golden Mile’ alone. Australian output peaked in 1903 at 119 tonnes, a level not reached again until 1988. And in 1896, alluvial deposits were found in the Yukon territories of Canada, initiating the Klondike gold rush which yielded 75 tonnes over the next three years. By the turn of the century, world production was averaging 400 tonnes annually.  

Through much of the twentieth century, gold mining was declining in many countries. There was a brief revival after the rise in the price of gold in the late 1930s; in 1940 United States production was 155 tonnes, and in the following year Canadian output reached 172 tonnes – a record which stood until 1991. However, it was not until the dramatic price rise of 1980 that the industry experienced another major transformation, which saw old mines being revived and massive efforts to explore new sites.

Western production almost doubled during the 1980s, rising from 962 tonnes in 1980 to around 1,744 tonnes ten years later. A new era of gold rushes occurred, with prospectors swarming to deposits in various countries including Brazil, Venezuela and the Philippines. Serra Pelada in Brazil proved to be one of the richest deposits ever found, yielding 13 tonnes in 1983 alone.

Canadian output trebled in the years following the gold price rise, from 51.6 tonnes in 1980 to a peak of 175.3 tonnes in 1991. The Canadian industry is more traditional, with underground operations rather than open pits. The most significant new discovery was the Hemlo field in northern Ontario, whose three mines produce nearly 35 tonnes annually.

The potential for the development of future mines is promising, particularly low-grade epithermal deposits on the Pacific ‘rim of fire’, in the greenstone belt of South America, in the sub-Saharan Africa (especially Ghana) and in former Soviet states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Although the industry faced major challenges in the early 1990s, with a lower gold price and tighter environmental controls, improved prices after 1993 provided new incentives. The period of rapid growth may be over, but with less South African output, worldwide production is expected to remain fairly stable.